


pay no attention to that man inside the mirror

by shinealightonme



Category: Doctor Who, Heroes - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Challenge Response, Crossover, Doppelganger, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-01
Updated: 2010-06-01
Packaged: 2017-10-09 20:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightonme/pseuds/shinealightonme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A crash landing leads to misunderstandings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pay no attention to that man inside the mirror

**Author's Note:**

> written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/xoverland/profile)[**xoverland**](http://community.livejournal.com/xoverland/), for the Doppelganger challenge (actor: Christopher Eccleston). Originally posted [on LJ](http://shinealightonme.livejournal.com/103009.html).

The damage from the War sends the Tardis hurtling through time, space, and dimensions it was never meant to cross, while inside, the last Time Lord dies.

The Doctor regenerates, and wishes that he hadn't.

The Tardis is chiming a warning, though, and he can't let her down, so he drags himself to the console.

He catches sight of his new face, a faint reflection off a dark-lit screen, and turns away.

It takes him a moment to understand the readings the Tardis is giving him. There's no one there to ask what it means, and he speaks aloud to ward off the emptiness.

"Alternate universe. Fantastic."

-

The noise is faint, but underestimating strange things on the edge of his senses is the kind of mistake Claude can't afford to make.

He investigates, and of all the things he'd expected to find, a British police call box didn't even make the list. Claude circles it twice before trying the door. It won't open, but he's patient.

-

The Doctor works out how to get back to his own universe before giving in to the temptation to step outside, see what's there, what this place is like.

What he finds outside is the worst possible thing.

Himself.

-

Claude nearly swears when he sees who steps out of the box – _bloody shape shifters._

But that's not it, because how could this shape shifter know what he looks like? The shape shifter is looking, impossibly, right at him, and the shock of it keeps Claude from reaching for his taser.

-

Maybe he's imagining things. Maybe this face is so new that he's seeing it everywhere.

Or maybe he's gone insane. Who could blame him?

"You can see me?" Other-Doctor asks.

"Course I can see you. You're not doing a very good job of hiding yourself."

-

"It usually works," Claude replies, thinking what to do now that he's lost the element of surprise. He's not sure he can do anything, if this is the kind of target with a bag full of tricks. "But this isn't quite usual, is it? How'd you get that here?"

"Bit of an accident, really," the shape shifter says. "Don't suppose I can stay here if you're around."

"Don't go dashing off on my account," Claude replies.

"You'll be fine. You've still got more like us around, haven't you?"

Claude tries not to think of vivisections. "For all the good it does me, yeah."

"You would see it that way."

"What do you know about it?"

He rolls his eyes, which annoys Claude further. "Look, the longer we're both here, the more potential this has to become really disastrous. I think it's about time I left."

"Wait!" The shape shifter is back inside before Claude can catch him, and he's forced to step away as the box makes ominous whirring noises and vanishes.

Claude has no idea how he's going to explain this to the Company. And maybe, he thinks, he doesn't even want to.


End file.
